April 18, 2008

Loudonville, N.Y. - Siena cross country junior captain Ryan Donnelly will be one of 25,000 athletes to compete in Monday's 112th running of the Boston Marathon. Donnelly will run in his first major competition alongside his mother Cathy, a longtime veteran of some of the country's biggest races.

"I've ran close to 3,800 miles in the past year to prepare for Boston, but not a single one of those miles can prepare me for how amazing it will feel to cross that finish line," remarked Donnelly. "My mom ran with me during my first marathon and was the one who inspired me to run 26.2 miles, so it only seems right to run my first Boston with her."

Cathy Donnelly has run the Boston Marathon before along with other major marathons across the country including New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia.

A three year cross country team member, Donnelly also represents Siena on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (S.A.A.C.). He is currently enrolled as a Bio-Chemistry major at the college.

To qualify for the Boston Marathon in the 18-34 year old range for males, a competitor must post a qualifying time of 3 hours 10 minutes or less. After finishing with a time of 3:39 in the Long Island Marathon in 2006, Donnelly qualified with a phenomenal performance in the Hyannis Marathon in late February.

Donnelly completed the course in just 2 hours 55 minutes, a 6:42 minute per mile pace, in finishing fourth overall and first in his age group of 18-29.

Monday's marathon will be broadcast on Versus from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Donnelly's race number is 2031, while his mother will wear number 19, 366.